When I begin to work with organizations on developing or re-defining their corporate brand, I go through many of the same exercises as I do when I am working with entrepreneurs or solo-preneurs. The reason is because the process of branding, whether with organizations of individuals or just one individual, contains many of the same goals. What we want to achieve is essentially to define your unique story and share it with others. The similarities also come from the goals of understanding, defining, and expressing qualities, values, and distinctions that set them apart from others.
As an entrepreneur or solo-preneur, you need to have a strong core for your brand. Why? There are many reasons why a strong core is important, but most importantly, you need a clear way to define who you are and what the purpose is for your business in order to have others understand the benefits of working with or buying from you. If you are not clear on who you are as a business and the specific audience that you are trying to reach, it is nearly impossible for others—especially your ideal clients and professional network—to be clear about it.
Instead of a corporation consisting of a large group of people representing one or multiple product/service brands, your personal brand is about you as the prominent element of your business. You are the selling point of your business. You become the focal point of your professional brand and through that people begin to associate you, not a company logo or product, with quality. When you begin to create your personal brand, you must first define the unique characteristics and principal strengths that make you who you are.
Your personal brand comprises partly of:
- Your previous experiences. This is all part of your story that sets you apart from others in your expertise.
- Brand description – how people describe you and how you describe yourself – personality and characteristics.
- Main attributes that frame your personal and professional work. Consider making a list of attributes—characteristics, talents, qualities, or services—that you incorporate into your work.
- The way that you package yourself – dress, accessories, and environment. Your environment tells a lot about your brand. Think about the way that you dress, the business tools that you use, and how your office is decorated and ask yourself what these elements are expressing about you.
Taking the time to list out and analyze how you are expressing yourself, as a business owner—as a brand—is one of the best ways to see the inconsistencies that may exist in your brand. Once you realize these inconsistencies, you are able to make tweaks to your brand expression that will help you express your brand more clearly to potential clients as well as to your professional network (those who support you in your business success).
What do you think are the best ways to express your brand? Post your comments below.
About the Author: Lisa Hromada is Personal Branding and Online Brand Strategist who works with highly motivated women entrepreneurs and solo-preneurs who want to maximize what makes them exceptional and accelerate their business to gain more exposure, credibility, and visibility AND enjoy more free time. She uses both online and offline strategies to help you to take your resources, contacts and expertise farther.
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